Susan McLean

Pain Management

The management has gauged how much you’ll take
before you buckle or walk out. They care
about your health—at least until you break,
use up your sick leave, or require repair.
 
The management endorses your retiring
early. They will help you out the door,
so that they can economize by hiring
fresh blood for half of what they paid before.
 
The management can't monetize your gain
in knowledge or experience. They doubt
that anything you'd do if you remain
could beat their savings if you're shunted out.
 
They needn't lay you off, just raise your stress
through higher workloads and adverse conditions,
until exhaustion, strain, and hopelessness
force you to leave, fulfilling their ambitions.

Susan McLean, a retired English professor from Southwest Minnesota State University, has published The Best Disguise and The Whetstone Misses the Knife, as well as a book of translations of the Latin poet Martial, Selected Epigrams. Another book of her poems, Daylight Losing Time, is forthcoming from Able Muse Press.